Drawing can be incredibly fun, therapeutic, and mentally freeing. But it can quickly become overwhelming for many reasons, most of which we’re usually not prepared for. These can include creative burnout, perfectionism, or a fear of what you’re picture may turn out to be (art expectations). But you’ll be ahead of other artists and improve your art much faster as long as you understand 10 of the most common mindsets and art tips to have before you start drawing, either as a hobby or a career.
10 Brutal Truths About Art Before You Start Drawing
1. Your First Few Drawings Are Not Going to Be Your Best
Think about your first time doing something that wasn’t easy when you first tried it. Was it learning to ride a bicycle, tie a shoe, learning how to cook, or anything else similar? I’m going to guess it wasn’t easy your first time.
It’s the same when you start drawing for the first time.
Because you may not have experience drawing before, the concept of drawing can feel vague.
Like everything, drawing normally takes lots of time and practice for you to get good at.
- It relies a lot on hand-eye coordination which is very difficult to control when you first start drawing because you’re relying on 2 sensory pieces of information: 1. making things look right and 2. controlling your hand and wrist movements to create an image.
- Drawing also relies on muscle-memory.
If you lower your expectations of the outcome, you’ll put less pressure on yourself and let your creativity flow naturally, resulting in most likely a more interesting artwork.
2. Drawing is a Slow Process Before You Start Seeing Big Results
As mentioned above, there are a lot of factors that go into drawing, whether it’s self taught drawing or going to an art school. And that’s not even learning things like anatomy or shading!
I don’t mean to scare or overwhelm you when you start drawing but I want you to be prepared with the correct art expectations for when these things most likely may pop up in your creative process because not only can they be major setbacks for your artistic goals but they can creep up without you realizing them.
Learning how to draw and how to draw well is not going to happen overnight. I hate to break it to you but for 90% of us, it’s the truth. It took me at least 3-4 weeks of drawing everyday (I was in an art school at the time) to notice improvement.
When you first start drawing, a majority of the time (depending on your goals) will be spent acquiring the basic skills needed to create a recognizable image.
Basically, you’ll be spending time making things look correct and learn things like precision and coordination. In my eyes, those are more important than making a cool image because those principles and art tips teach you how to understand and master the process of drawing, first.
3. There’s a Lot of Competition When Applying for Art Jobs or Standing Out as an Artist
The reality is, there is no shortage of artists nowadays.
Artists are everywhere from social media, to the internet and tv, whether they’re professional or have learned self taught drawing.
The amount of competition to be seen as an artist both on social media and when applying to jobs can be difficult to overcome and comprehend, not to mention the toxic social media art habits that can send you spiraling into a whole dimension of mental health issues that can set up unrealistic art expectations.
Some important art tips to keep in mind to combat this when you start drawing:
- What type of art do you want to make?
- Then ask yourself : How does your art stand out from the thousands of other artists competing to be seen ? What makes your art unique?
- It’s extremely difficult to get large followings on social media platforms nowadays, as the algorithms require you to constantly post your work (sometimes every day) which can lead to you burning out, fast. Unless getting a large social media following is your huge goal, avoid it for now and just focus on getting better at your own art.
- You don’t need to have an artistic goal with what you want to achieve with your art (that’s something that will come with time). But it will make it easier for your work to stand out when you have a general direction of where you want to go with it.
- No matter what you want to achieve with your art, try to start drawing now, stay consistent with it (it doesn’t need to be every day), and you’ll eventually reach your goal. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3 months, 3 years, or even decades from now, as long as you keep at it, you’ll get there.
For an in-depth look at using social media for art and it’s pros and cons, check out this extremely helpful article on Why Being an Artist on Social Media is a Competition & what you can do to beat it.
This leads me to the next important point:
4. Be Prepared to Spend a Lot of Time Drawing
Whether you want to make money off your art, work for an animation studio, teach your own art classes, or show your work in galleries, you’ll need to spend a lot of time drawing – and I mean A LOT.
Why?
Depending on what you want to draw, there are so many different artistic concepts to understand when you first start drawing.
For example, if you want to draw cool portraits or characters, you ‘ll need to understand basic anatomy, shading (aka “value”), and some perspective. And that’s not even going into color which is a completely different subject on it’s own, as it involves things like lighting, color temperature, and color theory!
Each of these concepts takes serious time to understand from both an intellectual, and then a physical standpoint.
They all require you to understand the idea first, and then be able to mimic it in real time, using hand-eye coordination.
For a professional, it takes years to get good at drawing.
You may have heard one of these art tips before but to get really good at something, you must spend approximately 10,000 hours to become a pro. This isn’t true for everyone but my point is it’s going to take time for you to get good at making art, if this something you’re serious about pursuing.
Tip:
- Start drawing. Now.
- You’ll need time to understand basic things like precision and hand-eye coordination, for starters, esp. if you’re doing self taught drawing.
- You can pick up more advanced skills like shading and color later on.
- Pick one basic drawing concept and focus learning that technique(s) for a few weeks.
- It’s so easy to get overwhelmed so focus on one thing for now.
- It can be drawing simple shapes, perspective, or just drawing an object, like a nose or lips.
- Try setting aside some drawing time every day, week, or 2 weeks.
- It can be as little as 5 min but it will add up and keep your brain creatively active and progressing.
Setting mindfully healthy art expectations can make a world of difference in your artistic journey.
If you want to learn how to draw the right way but have no artistic skills or experience, check out this in-depth guide on How to Start Drawing with No Art Experience, with my most important tips, what you need to focus on, art supplies, & easy drawing exercises to get you started now!
5. Get Ready to Make a Lot of Mistakes and Be Prepared for (Many) Failures
Going back to point #1, a lot of your first drawings probably won’t be your best.
And if you think they are now, they won’t be in a few months if you keep drawing, because you’ll most likely be a better artist by then!
Back at art school I remember something one of my instructors told me that I’ll never forget: “Those first few drawings are not going to be your best. You have to draw all the crap out before you draw the good stuff.” Or something like that.
Maybe it’s because it was so funny that I’d remembered it but it’s so true.
You need to fail, make mistakes and take risks, and then learn from those mistakes. Knowing how to draw well is just as important as knowing what not to do when drawing. And that in turn makes you a better and more efficient artist.
It’s 100% perfectly fine to fail. As long as you learn how to make your drawings better, you’ll keep improving and become so much better because of it.
A great way to look at this is to see failures and mistakes as 1. progress, and 2. a way to become a much better artist.
6. Not Everything Will Make Sense to You at First
It takes time and dedication to understand the most basic of basic principles when you start drawing, no matter if you’re taking an art class or going the self taught route.
Having low art expectations at first will really help you understand basic art techniques while helping you learn how and what methods and styles of learning work for you.
So take your time and enjoy the process now. Your art will eventually get better.
Also, make sure to write down any drawing or art tips that help you understand the material or help make your art better – drawing principles are a lot to memorize and easy to forget. I like to make a little journal or art notes I can reference if I ever need to remember a few techniques.
7. Getting Yourself to Start Drawing Everyday is an Achievement, Not Something that Happens Naturally
Whether you’re on social media, an art-based website, or listening to art teachers or recruiters, you’ll most likely hear “you need to draw everyday”, if you want to be successful at art.
And you’ll hear it – A LOT.
While this sentiment is true, it’s not always necessary for everyone, especially when you first learn to start drawing.
It’s not like you just start drawing everyday out of nowhere, just like that. As I’ve personally found out, it takes time, planning it into your schedule, and most importantly, getting into a mindset where you feel you’re not being forced to “draw everyday”, otherwise your mind will tell you not to do it, like in my case.
Your want to draw needs to happen naturally for you to get to the point of ‘drawing everyday’.
Not only does “drawing everyday” set up unrealistic expectations of your productivity and quality of your artwork, it can be one of those pesky toxic social media art norms that you can suddenly find yourself spiraling into, that can negatively affect your mental well being.
Instead, take your time time drawing and figure out what you like about it. If you want to pursue drawing professionally, then you will have to draw more often but maybe not every single day. See what fits into your schedule right now and make do with the time you have.
Remember: drawing everyday should come naturally because you want to do it, not because it’s forced out of you from external places (other artists, social media, recruiters).
Give yourself a pat on the back or treat yourself to a reward if you do get yourself to draw everyday because it is no easy feat, you deserve it!
8. Social Media Can Halt Your Progress as an Artist
While posting your art on social media seems like a fantastic way to get your art seen and a possible following, it’s actually more toxic to your mental health and creativity.
When you post art to social media, you’re actually competing with millions of others on the platform just to have your content seen, in addition to fighting with the platforms’ algorithms, you’re relying on external gratification and validity. When these two things don’t come from you, you can become more sad, anxious, even depressed at times, lowering your motivation, focus, and mental well being.
It’s so difficult and distracting to keep up with social media while learning to draw.
These toxic social media art pitfalls can be detrimental to your artistic progress because it sets you up for unrealistic art expectations (that can be unreachable w/your current skills).
You’re most likely looking at other artists’ work on the platform as well. This can greatly influence what type of art you produce and can even sway you from your unique style and voice.
To help solve these issues, just stay focused on your studies right now. Your hard work will show through in your art now, not necessarily your followers. Followers can come later once you’ve gotten into your own groove and process of drawing.
Here’s a quick list of the damaging mental effects social media can have on you and your artwork, Social Media for Art: 10 Dangerous & Lasting Effects on Your Mental Health.
9. Not Everyone will Like or Appreciate Your Art
And that is 100% okay!
Just start drawing.
Everyone has their own preferences of art they like as I’m sure you do too, and it’s totally fine if your art doesn’t fit their bill.
It’s just like food. I have my own culinary preferences like ramen, mac and cheese, and low sugar ice cream.
You’re making art for YOU, because you want to. You’re not making it for anyone else, so don’t ever feel bad or take it personal when someone may not outright ‘like’ your art.
For this point, some art tips to keep in mind: it’s very important to have confidence in your own artistic abilities and skills. But be self aware enough to know where you need those improvements and how you can become a better artist.
10. Be Prepared to Receive Criticism Both Good and Bad
Whether you’re in an art class, showing off your work at a gallery, or just showing your self taught drawing pics to a few friends and family, someone will ALWAYS say something about it, good, bad, or both.
It’s one of those expectations that comes with making art, whether you’ve started drawing for 10 days or 10 years.
Receiving prompted criticism in a professional setting is a stepping stone for becoming a successful artist. I can most likely guarantee that every successful artist, including today’s top artists, have had at least a few bad pieces of art in their early days and received some sort of art criticism. But what makes them stand out, is that they most likely listened to the professional’s advice to create better artwork.
Knowing when to fold and put your ego aside to become better at your craft is a trait the most successful artists have and why they are so successful.
If someone says something bad about your art on a whim, don’t take it personal, it’s definitely not you. And if it’s art tips and criticism from a mentor or teacher, definitely try to improve those areas because you’ll be a much better artist than yesterday.
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